With nervousness, I am releasing the first chapter of a book I’ve been working on for two years out into the internet for free, knowing I’m one Ctrl-V from a better-connected writer pitching a fantastic idea to a willing publisher.

It’s summer. The birds are singing, the grass is green, the president is floating a potential Blagojevich pardon either as a form of political distraction or as the word salad that erupts when someone wakes up the commander in chief too early from nap-naps and the Chicago Corruption Walking Tour is ready to go for 2018.